Refrigerating apparatus



May 4, 1937., E. HEITMAN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 26, 1935 (\I my m ma W m o J m ..a W m w a a T m m N .a.. I 2 D m w F A w w a h W a w w WW 3 4 4 I a 7 T W J m" 2 a L W w w 4 w# 0 z 1 m l w .8 2 4 M. a h\ %8\ Patented May 4, 1937 PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Edward Heitman, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application October 26, 1933, Serial No. 695,231

5 Claims. (Cl. 62-126) The present invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly to evaporators.

. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved sheet metal evaporator in which the sheet material is fabricated to form several compartments and in which the sheet metal forms a section or sections for containing refrigerant and is disposed so as to provide compartments having diiferent temperatures.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet metal evaporator which is fabricated so as to' provide a plurality of compartments and refrigerant containing walls and arranged so that one of the compartments is centrally disposed and is provided with relatively more refrigerant containing wall section so as to provide a compartmenthaving a relatively colder temperature.

- Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

Figl 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet showing the improved evaporator therein, and a diagrammatic view of a refrigerating system;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the evaporator taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; and v Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

In the drawing:

In the drawing, 20 represents a refrigerator cabinet of the household type in which an evaporator 2| is disposed and the cabinet is provided with a food storage compartment 22 having shelves 24. The entire front of the cabinet is open to give access to the evaporator 2| and food compartment 22 and'this opening is closed by a single door 25.

The evaporator 2| is formed of sheet metal and includes a sheet 21 having a corrugated bottom 26, and flat, upright sides 29 and 36. A horizontal sheet 3|, which substantially covers the corrugated bottom 28, is bonded along its edges with the bottom 28 and at the crest of each corrugation of the bottom 28 so'as to provide a refrigerant containing section 33. The sheet 3| is bulged upwardly at 34 to form a header for interconnecting the centrally disposed ducts 35 and side ducts 35 formed by the corrugated bottom and sheet 3|. At the rear and on opposite ends, the bottom 28 is bulged downwardly, as at 31, and the corrugations forming ducts 35 stop short of the back end of the bottom so that the bulges 31 form headers for the side ducts 35. The bulges or headers have their inner ends extending below the main header 34 and therefore the side ducts 35 as well as the central ducts 35, are in open communication with the header for receiving liquid refrigerant therefrom and for delivering vaporized refrigerant thereto. Header 34 is provided with two couplings 39 and 40 which are connected, respectively, with inlet pipe 4| and outlet pipe 42.

The top 45 and back 46 of the evaporator 2| are formed of one sheet of metal 41. The edges of top 45 are bent over the sides 29 and 30, as at 48, and the bottom edge of back 46 is bent underneath bottom 28, as at 49, and these edges are bonded with the respective sides and bottom. A sheet of metal 5| having upright sides 52 and 53 and having a horizontally extending top 54 has its lower inturned edges 55 bonded with the top of sheet 3|. A sheet of metal 51 having a generally horizontal bottom 58 and having upright sides 59 and 60 has its upper inturned edges 6| bonded with the top 45. The side 52' of sheet 5| and side 59 of sheet 51 are aligned and spaced from the side 29 of sheet 21 to form acompartment 62. Likewise sides 53 and 60 are aligned and spaced from side 30 but on this side of the evaporator 2| there is provided a shelf 63 which is bonded with the sides 53 and 30 and therefore two compartments 64 and 65 are provided. The sheets 5| and 51, in addition to forming side compartments 62, 64 and 65, also form a central freezing zone having compartments 66 and 61, each being arranged to receive two ice trays 69. A sheet metal front 10 is secured by bonding 'to the front edges of sheets 21, 3|, 5|, 5'! and 41 and is formed with openings aligning with the compartments. Hinged doors ll, 12 and 13 are provided on the front 10 for closing compartments 62, 64 and 65.

The central zone or compartments 66 and 61, disposed between the side compartments 62, 64 and 65, will be maintained at a lower tempera ture than the side compartments and, in order to provide for intense refrigeration, the percentage of refrigerant containing wall is increased. This is accomplished by providing a refrigerant containing wall or section 15 between compartments 66 and 61. Section I5 is formed by corrugating the top of sheet 5| and bonding the crests of these corrugations with the bottom 58 of sheet 51 to form rearwardly extending ducts 16. The bottom 56 is bulged upwardly at 11 and this bulge forms a header for delivering liquid refrigerant to and withdrawing gaseous refrig- The headers 36 and ii are herein utilized as rear stops for the ice trays'tfl.

Liquid refrigerant entering the evaporator it through pipe it first passes into header d4 of 'section 33 and then into ducts 35 and 35'. Part of the refrigerant will vaporize and will flow out of the header with liquid refrigerant through pipe 62 and this liquid and vaporized refrigerant will then flow to header ll of section it. The

liquid will flow into ducts W and all of it he therein vaporized and how outwardly from the header ill with the vaporized refrigerant which entered the header ll from section 38.

For illustrative purposes, the heat. dissipator is herein shown as a compressor 82 and condenser t3. vaporized refrigerant will be withdrawn from the evaporator by the compressor through pipe 8 i compressed by the compressor and forced into the condenser 83 where it is cooled and liqueiled. The liquid refrigerant then flows through a suitable expansion valve 8d to pipe ll leading to the evaporator. The temperature of the evaporator is controlled by controlling the duration of operation of the compressor. The compressor is'driven by a motor 85 through a belt 86 and the starting and stopping of the motor is controlled by a snap acting switch 89. This switch is actuated by a pressure responsive bellows 89 which is connected by pipe 90 with pipe 8! and is responsive to the pressure in pipe 8! and therefore responsive to the temperature of the evaporator 2|.

From the foregoing it will he understood that I have provided an evaporator having diflerent temperature compartments, the central zone or compartments t5 and El being maintained at a relatively low temperature for quickly freezing water, sherbet or the like and, the side compartments being maintained at a warmer hut suitable storage temperature.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein described constitutes a preferred form, it is to he understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerating apparatus, a sheet metal evaporator including sheet material horizontally disposed to provide a refrigerant containing section, 'sheet material extending vertically from the opposite ends of the horizontal section to provide outside walls of the evaporator, a plurality of vertically extending walls intermediate said side walls dividing said evaporator into a central advance freezing compartment and laterally disposed storage compartments, a second refrigerant containing section joining said intermediate vertical walls and forming a wall of the central freezing compartment.

2. In a refrigerating apparatus, a sheet metal evaporator comprising substantially planar sheet material superimposed, the edges of said sheet material being joined and having intermediate portions spaced from one another to provide a refrigerant containing section, side walls extendlug upwardly from the section to provide a compartment, one of said side walls being spaced from a joined edge of the planar sheet material to provide a refrigerated shelf extending hori- Lzontally beyond the compartment, said sheet material being fabricated to form a header within said compartment and fabricatedto form a fluid connection between the header and the shelf.

3.1a a refrigerator, a fabricated sheet metal 2 evaporator having compartments of different temperatures comprising, sheet metal walls proriding a central freezing compartment and warmer storage compartments on opposite vertical sides of the central compartment, said walls of said compartments each including a bottom wall fabricated to contain refrigerant, said sheet metal heing fashioned so that the percentage of refrigerant containing part of the freezing compartment is greater than the percentage of refrigerant containing part of either of the other storage compartments.

4. In a refrigerator, sheet metal forming an open front evaporator having a rearwardly extending vertical wall dividing the same into a freezing compartment and a storage compartment disposed horizontally with respect to one another, certain walls of the compartments being fabricated to contain refrigerant, said sheet metal being fashioned so that the percentage of refrigerant containing part of the freezing comparment is greater than the percentage of refrigerant containing part of the storage compartment. 5. In a refrigerator, sheet metal forming an 4 open front evaporator having rearwardly extending vertical walls dividing the same into a cen tral freezing compartment and storage compartments on opposite sides of the freezing compart- 

